What’s in a name after all? These kinds of questions are alright when one is deep in philosophical contemplation of the meaning of life, but the mobile phone industry is made strictly of material stuff and has very earthbound motivations and goals.

The purpose of that foray into the differences between the metaphysical and physical dimensions was prompted by Samsung’s new phone. A single model has recycled through many names, some rather unwieldy while others are brief to the point of being abrupt. However, Samsung has finally zeroed in on one, the Instinct HD.

It would not be surprising if mobile enthusiasts have no idea which phone has been dubbed the ‘Instinct HD’. After all they’ve known it by other names for quite a long while now. These kinds of weird name gymnastics seem to be a stock in trade with Samsung, so no one should feel any surprise when they are informed that the Instinct HD is no other than the highly anticipated Samsung Dash M850. How they arrived at Instinct from Dash is beyond any logical reasoning, so none will be attempted.

Earlier Samsung had decided to label a supposedly HD phone as the new OmniaHD. However, all pretensions to HD were stripped away mercilessly as the phone was then relegated to the relatively obscure moniker of Samsung i8910. The official stance on the name change was that the Omnia brand was reserved solely for the Windows Mobile based handsets, and no other handsets could encroach.

Going back to the Samsung Instinct HD, it is said to be the successor to the Instinct S30. There is no official indication whether the phone is to live up to its lofty name and be able to handle high definition (HD) video. This kind of speculation is rife because the phone first held the undistinguished name of Instinct S50 before S50 was scrapped for HD. However the screen is certainly large enough to warrant the functionality.

In all seriousness, however, the new Samsung phone, regardless of what it is finally called, will be a swanky device with sleek lines. It is reportedly black with an iPhone-esque interface, judging from a few illicit photographs doing the rumour rounds on the Internet. The phone has got the FCC stamp of approval already. Sprint will be retailing the phones at an as yet undisclosed price.

Hopefully the name changes will have come to a standstill, as it is doubtful whether many people will be able to absorb a fourth. It is very strange that a company would actually resort to so many changes, considering that they would potentially lose out on some of the marketing done with previous monikers. It just does not make good business sense.

Check out Samsung’s line-up of classy phones at their website, here. To get an idea of what the Instinct S50, sorry, the Instinct HD may well look like, the Instinct S30 may just provide an adequate teaser; to see the Instinct S30 offered by Sprint click here.